Feel first, think second: is our brain really cut out for the modern world?
, with Paul Bloom, Dan Ariely, Daniel Dennett and more
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The brain's job is not to pass a math test, get a promotion at work, or win a Nobel Prize. Our brain's only job is to make sure we survive today, and that we live to see another. Our brain' system worked well for us when humanity's only job was to hunt for food and fight for survival. But enter into the modern-day, our brain is not working so well as we have to rationalize problems like genetically modified foods and climate change.

This is something we have to accept about our minds and better understand how our brain works in order to better avoid pitfalls in the future. In the coming years, because of modern technology, we will be able to better identify weaknesses in our rationality and thought patterns. Once we flag these weaknesses, we can make changes to our thinking patterns so that our brains have the tools to make us more rational decision-makers.

So, how do we start thinking more rationally in the 21st century? Experts tell us that we will have to think from an outsider's perspective. To better adapt our fight or flight brains to the modern-day, we will have to step outside of our emotions, reframe our thoughts, and see things from a new perspective.

Read the video transcript: https://www.bigthink.com/videos/ratio...

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Chapters:
0:00 David Ropeik - Is our brain equipped for modern day thinking?
0:51 Daniel Dennett - Can rationality be avoided by future thinking tools?
1:33 Dan Ariely - Looking from an outsider's perspective
2:53 Julia Galef - Rationality in careers and relationships
3:12 David Ropeik - Our brain chemistry on why we act from emotions
4:22 Julia Galef - Bayes’ Rule
4:51 Daniel Dennett - Blind spots in our own thinking
6:17 Paul Bloom - Are we prisoners of our emotions?

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Read more of our stories on rational thinking:
Extending Descartes to Embody Our Social Rational Souls
►► https://bigthink.com/life/extending-d...
Why do smart people do dumb things?
►► https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/why-d...
Creativity is the subconscious mind combined with intuition and rationality
►► https://bigthink.com/videos/scott-bar...

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